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Faces (episode)
The Vidiians capture B'Elanna Torres and split her into two people, one fully Klingon, and one fully human. Summary :"Captain’s log, stardate 48784.2. We have completed our survey of the Avery system and are returning to retrieve Lieutenants Paris, Torres and Durst. By now, they should have concluded their inspection of the magnesite formations on the third planet." B'Elanna Torres, Peter Durst and Tom Paris are abducted by the Vidiians, the alien race who suffer from the Phage. Durst and Paris are separated from Torres, who – during an experiment by Sulan, a Vidiian scientist in search of a cure for the deadly disease – is split into her two genetic halves: one fully Klingon, the other fully Human. Sulan believes that Klingons may possess an immunity to the phage. In order to test this theory, he infects B'Elanna with the Phage. In the meantime, Paris and Durst assess their situation and are looking for ways to escape. They meet a Talaxian who has also been captured and who informs them that the Vidiians have captured them not only for organ harvesting but also as slave laborers to dig their tunnels for them. Those who don’t stay strong, says the Talaxian, are taken to organ processing. B’Elanna, who has been successfully fighting off the phage, is furious over what the Vidiian has done to her. However, the scientist announces that this remarkable breakthrough will finally allow him to begin a series of procedures replicating her genetic code and attempting various methods of integrating her DNA with that of his own people, in order to finally find a cure. The Human Torres, who is finally returned back to Tom and Durst, is shaken by her experience, feeling weak and sickly. She remembers having been taken to a lab and told that they have completely extracted her Klingon DNA. She feels strange not having the ridges on her forehead anymore and tells Tom how, as a child, she did everything she could to hide those ridges. She remembers that in the colony where she grew up, she and her mother were the only Klingons. They stood out and were different. After her father left them, she was so sad and traumatized that she actually believed that he had left because she looked like a Klingon. When the Vidiians come to take Paris and Torres to the tunnels for work, she is overcome once again with terrifying fear, paralyzing her and robbing her of her strength. She is returned to the work barracks after a Vidiian guard determines that she is too ill to mine the tunnels with the other captives. Paris tries to get the Vidiians to let her stay, but B’Elanna wants to return, in the hope that she may find a way to contact the Voyager. She begins to work on the security console in the barracks while the guards are distracted. Meanwhile, the Klingon Torres manages to escape from Sulan's laboratory. She rescues the Human Torres from the guards, who are alerted to her activities on the console. The two escape into the tunnels, where they confront each other about their respective weaknesses. The Human Torres, who is very calm as well as apprehensive and cautious, confronts her other half by stating that she always responds with violence and anger to every obstacle in her way – blaming her for having been thrown out of the Academy. The Klingon B'Elanna believes that she should be eternally grateful for being kicked out of that institution, but the Human Torres is not grateful, for her Klingon temper has gotten her in trouble more times than she can remember. However, she realizes that there is no point to this debate, for they are actually each fighting with themselves. A plan is finally formulated in which they decide to return to Sulan's lab and use the console there to shut down the security cloak that shields the tunnels from Voyager's sensors. It may not be as exciting as fighting their way out, says the Human Torres, but it stands a much better chance of working. Moreover, she needs her Klingon half, B'Elanna, to follow her back there and cover for her, while she works, for she is unable to do this on her own. On Voyager, Chakotay is disguised to look like a Vidiian. He transports into the tunnel system and tries to infiltrate the Vidiian base, but will be without contact with Voyager until the Vidiian security cloak is disabled. Chakotay, in disguise, enters the base and finds Paris and convinces a Vidiian officer that he is bringing Paris to an organ harvesting center for processing. Chakotay and Paris meet up with B'Elanna and Torres in Sulan's lab just as Torres has deactivated the cloak. Sulan returns to his lab and threatens the group with a weapon. As he fires it, the Klingon B'Elanna throws herself in the line of fire and is critically wounded. The four transport to Voyager, where the Klingon B'Elanna dies after telling her other half that she feels it is an honorable death. In sickbay, Torres is informed that her cells’ ability to synthesize proteins has been severely compromised and that she needs her Klingon genes to survive. She realizes that as a Human she is more at peace with herself than she has ever been before – but she also feels incomplete for she doesn’t feel like herself. She admires her Klingon half's many qualities, such as her strength and bravery, but also realizes that she has to accept the fact that she will spend the rest of her life fighting with her. She touches over her forehead one last time, remembering her other half and thus the person who is such an integral part of her. Memorable Quotes "Why not let your creature out of her harness? Study her in action?" : - Klingon B'Elanna Torres to the Vidiian scientist Sulan "I'm sorry I can't replicate you a souffle." : - Klingon Torres to Human Torres "It's OK, Tom. They're the ones with the guns, remember?" : - Peter Durst, to Tom Paris shortly before his death "I must point out, that if you take the liberty of changing a time honored recipe, you are hardly presenting a taste of home." : - Tuvok to Neelix "Nobody ever escapes this place. Those Vidiian leeches can yank the beating heart out of you...in a heartbeat. Heart out of you in a heartbeat! Now that's funny!" "Hilarious." : - Talaxian prisoner and Peter Durst Background Information Story and Script * The story idea that ultimately became this episode was originally purchased by writer Jonathan Glassner, prior to story editor Kenneth Biller joining the staff of Star Trek: Voyager. In the original story, B'Elanna Torres walked into a machine and came out the other side, having been divided into Human and Klingon versions of herself; aliens responsible for the scheme were experimenting on purification within a species. Michael Piller commented, "In the first draft of the story we did, it was somebody's idea that this could be the result of a hideous concentration-camp kind of experiment - that is, genetic demonstration of some sort." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Executive producer Jeri Taylor was not initially enthusiastic about the story idea. She admitted, "I was not even in favor of buying this idea originally. I thought it was a tired idea, and it was too on the nose for B'Elanna." Accounting for the producers' decision to purchase the idea, Brannon Braga remarked, "Usually, when a show does the evil twin, it's on its last legs and they're desperate. We figured, 'Hey, why not get it out of the way right now? " However, the storyline was still of problematic credibility. "I always felt that splitting her was a mistake," Braga recalled, "like making Data human. Why do it? Why see it? Why resolve any of her feelings?" Executive producer Michael Piller noted, "This was a story that a lot of people had trouble with, and it was almost abandoned at one point in time ... but it seemed that the half-human, half-Klingon conflict between B'Elanna as a woman divided would be really interesting to see." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Even though Kenneth Biller didn't like the specifics of the original plot concept, he was nevertheless attracted to the prospect of exploring the character of the hybrid Torres, due to a familial relationship of his own. Biller explained, "I have a younger adopted brother who's biracial, and it's very interesting to see how he has had to deal with his identity. So this story idea, thematically, is very interesting to me. The original idea was very melodramatic and hokey. I admit my version was melodramatic too, but I think melodramatic in the tradition of ''Star Trek." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Initially, Kenneth Biller had some difficulty in making the aliens seem like more than one-dimensional baddies. He recalled, "''I got an interesting note from Michael Piller on the story document when it was approved. Michael was paraphrasing Gene Roddenberry, cautioning me... saying he really liked the story but the aliens should never be patently evil. They may have a set of values that differ from our own, but be careful of making them mustache-twirling villains. This was something that Gene had always said to Michael. So I really took this to heart. I never got to meet Gene, but I felt I was getting a bit of his legacy passed along to me from Michael. I worked really hard on that script to make the main alien character... his name is Sulan... to try to make him on some level sympathetic; or at least we should be empathetic with him so we can understand why he's doing what he's doing." (A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager, p. 135-136) * Kenneth Biller decided to involve the Vidiians in the plot, due to their technology. He recalled, "It suddenly occurred to me that Brannon had created these aliens in who, we have already established, have this incredibly sophisticated medical technology and have been searching for a cure to this disease." This recollection led Biller to realize a way to both account for the aliens' meddling and essentially humanize them. "I realized that the Klingons," he stated, "have these systems that allow them to fight off disease and injury much more effectively than other races, and they're so virile. Maybe they would be resistant to this thing. If I were this scientist with this incredible technology and I encountered a species I'd never seen before and it seemed that there was some promise she might hold the secret to a cure to this disease, I would do exactly as he did. I hit upon what I thought was a very organic way of doing something that otherwise might be really hokey." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Michael Piller said of the story, "It wasn't until Ken Biller got the rewrite that he solved every problem overnight. I was very impressed because I hadn't figured it out, and Ken did a lovely job on it. I think the show turned out quite well in the end." Brannon Braga commented, "None of us believed it could be pulled off, but Ken did it with the Phage aliens. If anyone has the technology to do this, they do. In the end, it was an effective episode." Similarly, Jeri Taylor remarked, "Ultimately it turned out far better than we had any right to expect. Ken Biller came up with marrying that idea splitting B'Elanna with the Phage aliens, and that's what I think ultimately made it work and made it credible." Also impressed by the story's ultimate form was Skye Dent, who had helped to create the Vidiians in "Phage." She enthused, "I thought they did a great job. It was better than mine, actually. It was just so dramatic." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) Cast and Characters * Kenneth Biller particularly liked the episode's depiction of Torres, especially the scenes that explore her identity and the way she views herself. He commented, "I love the moment when B'Elanna finds herself human, touches her forehead and realizes she doesn't have these ridges anymore, and it causes this memory of being a little girl with these Klingon ridges on her forehead in a place where nobody else looked like her. Then there's the irony that she suddenly looks the way she wanted to as a little girl, yet she's stuck in this prison camp, dying." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Considering Sulan and his bizarre relationship with the Klingon Torres, Kenneth Biller mused, "I love the beauty-and-the-beast aspect of their relationship. When he cut that guy's face off... that's my classic moment in ''Voyager first season." Referring to the Vidiians, Biller continued, "''They're great aliens in the tradition of ''Star Trek because they're ruthless, scary, formidable, but they have pathos. That moment in particular sort of personifies that. This guy does this horrifying thing, yet he did it because he was falling in love with this woman who, in her physical prowess, is his ideal of beauty. Because he is humiliated and embarrassed about the way he looks, in his mind this is the way to make her feel better and more comfortable. She says, 'You killed him,' but his rationale is 'Yes, but his organs will save more than a dozen lives.' While I certainly don't embrace his point of view, it is hopefully an interesting and complex one that makes it more than just a horrific moment. It's a horrific moment that has another kind of resonance." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Because Sulan transfers Durst's face onto his own, actor Brian Markinson was used to play both roles. * Actress Roxann Dawson thoroughly enjoyed the experience of portraying both halves of her usual character, Torres. Dawson revealed, "''It was great. It actually was just this wonderful learning experience in that I was able to delineate these two sides that up until then were just sort of metaphors. I was able to personify two aspects of this character, and it was very revealing to me and it taught me a lot. It was really a lot of fun." Of Dawson's performance in the episode, Jeri Taylor announced, "I thought Roxann did a wonderful job of playing two completely different characters." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Joy Kilpatrick, an extraordinarily realistic photo double for Roxann Dawson, was also used for the episode. "She was very intuitive and very much able to almost mimic me," Dawson remembered. "I was able to tell her what I was going to be doing so she could give me the beats that I could react to properly. She was very good and supportive, and I was able to act off of a real person, which was helpful." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) Production * This was the fourth of eighteen Voyager episodes directed by long-time Star Trek director Winrich Kolbe. He was freed from having to rely on split screen, for the two B'Elannas, thanks to the casting of Dawson's photo double. (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Nevertheless, the episode's shooting schedule was mindful of the facts that Roxann Dawson would be performing as two different characters and that one of her roles required extensive makeup. The actress recollected, "They were very careful in scheduling and tried not to have me split a day where I was in one character and then the other, not only for me but because the makeup was so long and difficult. They only concentrated on one character for the most part one day then switched to the next character the next day. It was sort of like doing repertory theater." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) Continuity * The concept of this story had been previously explored in a non-canon story. Nearly twenty years earlier, the anthology The New Voyages had a story titled "Ni Var" wherein Spock is divided, by an alien machine, into his Human and Vulcan halves. * Voyager s writing team were also wary of making this episode seem too much like TOS episodes such as and . Michael Piller remarked, "We knew we could not do the evil-versus-good story that the original ''Star Trek had done." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * This episode marks the death of Durst, who had been introduced in the previous episode, . * In this episode, Paris is wearing pips for lieutenant junior grade, whereas for all the previous episodes, he was wearing the rank of full lieutenant. He continues to wear the Lt. JG rank from here on. Reception & Aftermath * According to Jeri Taylor, the episode's conclusion generated a considerable amount of complaints and negative mail. Taylor revealed, "''I got a number of really nasty letters, largely about a couple of things. One, that our people got out of there and left the poor devils behind in that awful prison. And two, that nobody seems terribly sympathetic with B'Elanna at the end. That wasn't our intent. What was written in the action line as Chakotay's attitude toward her, which is certainly comforting and all of that, made it look like he was simply not responsive. People said, 'Couldn't he put his arm around her and show some warmth?' In retrospect, they're probably right." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series. won the award. * In a interview for StarTrek.com, Roxann Dawson named this episode as her favorite to film. http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/community/chat/archive/transcript/1225.html * Among the items from this episode which were sold off on the ''It's a Wrap!'' sale and auction on eBay were Vidiian special effects makeup pieces. Video and DVD releases * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.7, catalogue number VHR 4007, . * As part of the VOY Season 1 DVD collection. Links and References Starring *Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway Also starring *Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay *Roxann Biggs-Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres *Jennifer Lien as Kes *Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris *Ethan Phillips as Neelix *Robert Picardo as The Doctor *Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok *Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim Guest stars *Brian Markinson as Sulan/Peter Durst *Rob LaBelle as Talaxian prisoner *Barton Tinapp as Vidiian guard Uncredited co-stars *Tarik Ergin as Ayala *Kerry Hoyt as Fitzpatrick *Julie Jiang as an operations division lieutenant j.g. *Simon Stotler as an operations division ensign *Unknown actor as second Vidiian guard Stunt doubles and stand-ins *Joy Kilpatrick as photo double for Roxann Biggs-Dawson *Lynn Salvatori as stunt double for Roxann Biggs-Dawson *Unknown stunt performer as stunt double for Barton Tinapp References Avery III; Avery system; corn salad; dermal stimulator; force field; genotron; geological scan; granite; Kessik IV; Klingon; magnesite; peanut butter; peanut butter and jelly sandwich; phage; plomeek soup; petaQ; rodent; subspace transponder; Talaxian; Talaxian ship; tika cat; Vidiian; Vidiian Sodality |next= }} Category:VOY episodes de:Von Angesicht zu Angesicht es:Faces fr:Faces nl:Faces